Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Call a special session

Tuesday, March 19, 2002 | 8:47 a.m.

"ANYBODY can do it with money."

I can just see my father uttering those words to his sons and anyone else within earshot who hadn't grown up on the streets of this country and was not, therefore, seasoned to the ways of the world.

When you have money, he would explain, anything is possible. If you don't, the impossible can still be done but it takes a lot more skill, cunning and derring-do. Those last two are my words, not Hank's.

I thought of his great wisdom this weekend after traveling to Washington, D.C., to get a closer look at the picture being drawn against the state of Nevada by the nuclear power industry, the Department of Energy and the president of the United States. It is not a pretty picture, either.

So far the fight to keep the nation's high-level nuclear waste out of Nevada is too lopsided to even discuss, although there is reason to believe that with a little time and a whole lot of money we can be in this fight with a reasonable shot at victory.

Time we have got. It is the money thing where we come up short.

The power companies and their highly paid lobbyists have been so free with the dollars over the last few years that the number is somewhere north of $30 million that has been made available to various officeholders and growing on a daily basis. With what they believe is victory in sight, the folks who brought us Chernobyl and Three Mile Island -- just to name a couple -- are hellbent on shoving the rest of their radioactive problems into our Yucca Mountain and down our throats.

All we have is truth, justice and the American way, which these days doesn't count for very much in our nation's capital.

One thing you never say in Washington is never. That's because the words of Yogi Berra are always on the tip of the politician's tongue, "It ain't over till it's over."

But to win this fight and keep the nation's nuke garbage out of our back yard when it is made in everyone else's, we have to be able to educate our neighbors. All they know is what the power companies have been telling them for decades: that nuclear waste is not safe. (By the way, they tell that to everyone but Nevadans. For us, they got President George W. Bush to tell us that the stuff was safe and we could trust our government on that one).

Raise your hand if you believe the government.

So, if we can spread our message across America, we have a chance of reaching the good within our neighbors so that they will demand their senators and congressmen give up their evil ways and do what is right for a change. In short, leave the mothers and fathers and children of Nevada alone and spend the time and resources necessary to find a truly national solution to the problem that doesn't prey upon a politically impotent group of citizens.

And that, my friends, takes money and lots of it. Gov. Kenny Guinn had the right idea during the last Legislature when he asked for more and got $4 million to help Nevada in what was then a fight to come.

Since then, however, we have all borne witness to Sept. 11 and the change in the world that has resulted. Since then we have seen Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham shove it to us by recommending the site to the president. And, since then, we have seen President Bush go back on his word and do the power companies' bidding by sticking it to and into Nevada.

The fight, dear friends, is right here and right now. And to win it, to even be competitive, we need another $10 million to $12 million. That's a lot of money but if we put it in perspective (Would we spend $12 million to save the loss of $12 billion in property values?), then it is barely nothing at all.

And the only place we can get that kind of money in the days we need to raise it is from the Legislature of the state of Nevada. Sure we can challenge the private sector to kick in another $2 million or so, but the real money has to come from the state. And that means a special session.

Gov. Kenny Guinn has worked well with Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign in coordinating this fight but now it is time for him to act on his own. Only he can call the Legislature back into session and ask for the money.

The good news is that the leadership in both houses is made up of longtime Nevadans who know and understand a good fight when they see it. Both Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio and Speaker Richard Perkins know the risk of not winning this fight, so it should be easy for the governor and our two legislative leaders to get this piece of business done right away.

If ever there were a time for a special session, and if ever there were a time for emergency action in the name of every man, woman and child in this state, that time is now.

Call the special session, appropriate the money and let the fight begin. To do less is to ill serve the people who depend so much upon what we do.